Suns' Leandro Barbosa to have surgery on wrist, miss a month

Suns guard Leandro Barbosa will undergo surgery to remove a cyst from his right wrist on Tuesday and miss a month of play.

The Suns basketball and medical staffs met before Saturday night's game against Golden State and brought Barbosa into Coach Alvin Gentry's office to involve him in the final decision.

Barbosa, inactive for Saturday's game, considered having fluid drained from the wrist after the swelling and pain in his right hand worsened during Friday's loss to Chicago. Barbosa has struggled with the wrist problem since the summer, when it apparently originated from spraining the right wrist on a fall during play for the Brazilian national team.

Barbosa is averaging 10.6 points this season but has shot career-worst percentages from the field (42.2) and 3-point range (33.0). The Suns tried starting Barbosa the previous three games to ignite his game but he continued to struggle with how the cyst and swelling limits how much he can cock his right wrist. He was 12 for 32 from the field in the recent three starts, going 4 for 17 on 3-point tries.

Barbosa had the wrist's swelling drained in November, sat out three games and took anti-inflammatory drugs, but the problems also returned.

"L.B. feels strongly that the surgery will give him more peace of mind, that it won't return," General Manager Steve Kerr said.

Barbosa can resume running and conditioning work a week after surgery. He also missed 12 games this season with an ankle sprain and the team went 4-8. The Suns will adjust the same way, returning Jason Richardson to his starting job and playing Goran Dragic and Jared Dudley more at shooting guard off the bench.

When Barbosa returned, he had more problems with the cyst limiting his shooting wrist's flexibility than the ankle.

"The wrist was affecting his shooting because of the pain, so I think he'll be really relieved with the pain gone when he does come back," Kerr said. "Obviously, it'll take a little while to get his rhythm. The biggest thing is he's been trying to shoot through it, and you can see it's really swollen. He hasn't had the flexibility in his wrist to be able to get the ball into the right position, and that's one of the reasons he's struggling. It's important for us to get this right for his peace of mind. I'm confident that once he's back to normal, you'll see the same L.B. that we've always seen."

Phoenix Suns' Leandro Barbosa drives to the net against the Boston Celtics during the second half of their NBA game Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2009 in Phoenix.

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